The equiwatt community have been pioneering peak time energy saving for more than 3 years, running 300+ events in that time.

This means we have a lot of experience on how to make getting rewarded for using less electricity as simple, easy and rewarding as possible. 

As an independent provider, you do not need to be with a specific energy supplier to benefit from our free app. This means that no matter who provides your energy, you will always be able to take part in powerDOWN events.

Unlike some other schemes, we don't rely on sending you emails to let you know about events or wait until the end of the month to send you your rewards and savings.

Our app enables you to get rewarded and see your savings and impact as soon as your smart meter readings are available (usually within 48 hours).

Our gamified approach to energy saving also means that we aim to make using less electricity fun and rewarding by enabling you to compete in monthly leaderboards and win prizes.

When a powerDOWN event starts, you will receive a notification:

1) Switch off as many electric appliances as it is safe to and avoid turning high-usage appliances on.

2) Check your forecast in the equiwatt app to make sure you know how much electricity we expect you to use and what you have to beat so that you are using less. 

TIP: Check your In-Home Display (IHD) unit to make sure that you are going below your forecast.

3) Once the event has ended we will send you another notification so that you know when you can start using your appliances again.

4) As soon as we have received readings from your smart meter we will automatically award your points (this is typically with 48 hours) and let you know how much electricity you have saved in the app.

Notifications for powerDOWN events will be sent via the app in advance of the event happening (so make sure to have notifications switched on). We will give you as much notice as we can, usually the day before but it may only be a few hours before, it will depend on how much notice ESO gives us.

If you forget to opt-in or out of a powerDOWN event then you will not be able to earn points.

We can only let you participate if you opt-in and let us know that you are going to take part. If you do nothing then we will assume that you don't wish to take part on this occasion.

You can take part in as many or as few powerDOWN events as you like.

If you do not wish to participate, simply opt out in the app when you receive a notification of an upcoming powerDOWN event.

However, if you want to earn points for reducing your electricity usage during powerDOWN events then you will need to confirm your participation in the app before each event, so we know that you want to take part.

powerDOWN events could happen at any time of day.

However, the timing of the events will be based on when the grid needs help.

This is typically during the busiest or 'peak' times of day when the energy system needs to generate more power to meet everyone's needs. For example, between 4-7 pm.

You will need a working electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled to take part so we can verify how much energy you’ve managed to save.

If you do not have an electric smart meter then unfortunately, you will not be able to take part in powerDOWN events.

You can find out how to request one from your energy supplier here.

powerDOWN events will be running throughout winter, so once your smart meter has been installed you should be eligible to take part.

As long as you have a connected electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled you can take part.

Please note: Your in-home display (IHD) is different to your smart meter. Your IHD is the little screen that sits on a shelf in your house and displays your energy usage info.

As long as you have a connected electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled you can take part.

Even if you do not have an IHD or it is broken, you can check your energy usage in the equiwatt app or if applicable in your energy suppliers app.

If an external issue means that we are unable to retrieve readings from your smart meter during a powerDOWN event that you have opted into, we won't know how much you have saved.

If that happens we will be unable to award you any points for that event.

If we stop getting regular readings from your smart meter, that might prevent you from taking part in any further powerDOWN events. 

In this instance you may need to contact your supplier to see if there is something wrong with your smart meter.

If your smart meter stops working at any point after you have joined powerDOWN events, please get in touch with us and we will do all we can to help you resolve the issue.

In some circumstances, your smart meter may need to be fixed by your electricity provider as they are responsible for the maintenance and repair of your smart meter.

This is something that you will need to resolve directly with them.

If we are unable to get regular readings from your smart meter, that might prevent you from taking part in any further powerDOWN events until the issue has been resolved. 

We typically get 48 readings from a smart meter every day, one reading for every 30 minutes of the day.

On some occasions, we are unable to retrieve readings for the specific time that a powerDOWN event has been run. This doesn't mean that your smart meter has become disconnected from our system.

This generally happens due to a brief outage caused by your meter unit losing power for a second or a drop in signal.

As your meter uses a network to send data, there can occasionally be issues where readings are not sent.

When this happens we will try our best to retrieve the readings. However, if this is not possible then it might mean that you are unable to earn points as we will not be able to work out how much electricity you saved.

There is no complicated conversion rate when it comes to points. Every point earned from a powerDOWN event is worth 1p.

Or to put it another way, 100 points are worth £1.00.

When powerDOWN events happen, you will need to use less electricity at home compared to normal. We refer to this as beating your forecast.

Your forecast is the amount of electricity that we expect you to use at the period that the event is running and is displayed in the app during an event.

If you use less electricity than compared to normal (e.g. beat your forecast) you will earn points. The more you beat your forecast by, the more points you will earn!

You can get some help working out how much electricity your appliances use by taking a look at the centre for sustainable energy's website.

The Demand Flexibility Service will not only help reduce the need for fossil fuel power stations being used at peak times during the winter months but it is also a big step in learning more about how you at home can do your bit to help balance the grid, reduce CO2 emissions and achieve net zero ambitions.

ESO is running the Demand Flexibility Service from November 2023 until March 2024.

Your supplier may invite you to take part in their own scheme and you can choose whether to take part with them or with equiwatt.

equiwatt is independent of any suppliers so if you have not been invited or joined your supplier scheme and have a smart meter with half-hourly readings then you can take part with us.

If you are not sure if your smart meter is compatible or need help enabling half-hourly readings, send us an email at hello@equiwatt.com and we will see if we can assist you.

No. You can only access the rewards available for taking part in the ESO's Demand Flexibility Service through either your supplier OR equiwatt.

Furthermore, you can only sign up to one Registered DFS Participant at a time.

If you sign up for another Registered DFS Participant's program after joining powerDOWN events you will become ineligible to participate in powerDOWN events.